Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 15~19

15 The Navigator Out on the edge of the world, with no place to stay, no way to move on, no job, no life, no friends; hurt, confused, hot, thirsty, and irritated, Tuck was desperate. Desperate for just the momentary satisfaction that might come from attracting an attractive woman. No matter that he couldn't do anything about the attraction. What was she doing out here? Who cares? What a walk! He quickened his pace, his legs and shoulders protesting against the weight of his pack, and approached within a couple of steps of the blonde. â€Å"Excuse me,† he called. She turned. Tuck stopped and backed up a step. Something is wrong here. Very, very wrong. â€Å"Oh, baby,† she said, hand to her chest as if trying to catch her breath. â€Å"You scare little Kimi. Why you sneakin' up like that?† Tuck was dumbfounded. She wasn't a natural blonde. Her skin was dark and she had the high cheekbones and angular features of a Filipino. Long false eyelashes, bright red lipstick, but lines in the face that were a little too harsh, a jawline that was a little too square. The dress was tight around the chest and there was nothing there but muscle. She wore a huge black medallion at her throat that looked as if it was made of animal fur. She needed a shave. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Tuck said. â€Å"I thought you were something – er, someone else.† Then the medallion turned its head and looked at him. Tuck let out an involuntary scream and jumped back. The medallion was wearing tiny rhinestone sunglasses. It squeaked at Tucker. It was the biggest bat he had ever seen, hanging there upside down with its wings folded. â€Å"That's a bat!† â€Å"Fruit bat, baby. Don't be scared. This Roberto. He no like the light. He like you, though.† Roberto squeaked again. He had the face of a fox or perhaps a small dog – a shaven Pomeranian with wings. â€Å"I'm Kimi. What you name, baby?† Kimi extended his hand limply to shake or perhaps for a kiss. Tuck took two fingers, keeping his eye on the bat. â€Å"Tucker Case. Nice to meet you, Kimi.† He was horrified. Thirty seconds ago he'd been having lustful thoughts about a guy! A guy wearing a fruit bat! â€Å"You look like you need a date. Kimi love you good long time, twenny bucks. Whatever you need, Kimi can do.† â€Å"No, thanks. I don't need a date. What I need is a boat.† â€Å"Kimi can get boat. You like it in boat? Kimi take you round the world in a boat?† He giggled and patted Roberto's little upside-down head. â€Å"That funny, huh?† Tucker forced a smile. â€Å"No, I need a boat and someone who can pilot it out to an island.† â€Å"You need a boat, Kimi can get boat. Kimi can pilot too.† â€Å"Thanks anyway, but I really†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Roberto shrieked. Tuck jumped back. Kimi said, â€Å"Roberto say he want to go on boat with you. How far is island?† Tucker couldn't believe he was having this conversation. He hadn't really decided he would go by boat. â€Å"It's called Alualu. It's about two hundred and fifty miles north of here.† â€Å"No problem,† Kimi said without hesitation. â€Å"My father was great navigator. He teach me everything. I take you to island and maybe we have party too. You have money?† Tuck nodded. â€Å"You wait over there in shade. We be right back.† Kimi turned and wiggled away. Tucker tried not to watch him walk. He was feeling sick to his stomach. He walked to a grove of palm trees that grew along the harbor and sat down to wait. Kimi piloted the eighteen-foot fiberglass skiff out of a shantytown built over the water, across the harbor, to a dock in front of the marina restaurant. Roberto had unfolded his wings and was crawl ing spiderlike over Kimi's head and back, looking for a comfortable spot to get out of the light. Tucker walked to the dock and looked at the boat, then out past the harbor, where waves were crashing on the reef, then back at the little boat. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but he was sure this wasn't it. Something bigger, maybe a cabin cruiser, with twin diesels and a big wheelhouse with some radar stuff spinning on the top – a modest but well-stocked wet bar, perhaps. â€Å"I got you boat!† Kimi said. â€Å"You give me money now, I go get gas and look at map.† Tucker didn't budge. The engine was a forty-horse Yamaha out-board. A rubber tube ran from the motor to a gas tank that took up nearly all the space between the two seats. Tuck guessed it would hold at least a hundred gallons of fuel, maybe more. â€Å"Are you sure this thing has the range to make it out there?† â€Å"No problem. Give me money for gas. Five hundred dollar.† â€Å"You're insane!† â€Å"Gas very expensive here.† â€Å"You're insane and your bat's glasses are crooked.† â€Å"I have to pay man for boat. The rest is for pilot. You buy water, flashlight, and two mango, two papaya for Roberto, and two box Pop Tarts for Kimi. Strawberry.† Tucker felt he was being hustled. â€Å"For five hundred dollars you can get your own mangoes and Pop Tarts.† â€Å"Okay, bye-bye.† Kimi said. â€Å"Say bye-bye to cheap sweaty American, Roberto.† Kimi moved Roberto onto his shoulders and pulled the cord to start the engine. Tuck imagined himself stuck on Yap for another two weeks. â€Å"No, wait!† He unclipped the flap of his pack and dug inside. Kimi killed the outboard, turned, and grinned. There was lipstick on his teeth. â€Å"Money, please.† Tuck handed down a stack of bills. He didn't like it, but he didn't have a choice. Actually, not having a choice made it a little easier. â€Å"Are we going to leave right away?† â€Å"We go through reef before dark so we no smash up and drown. After that it better to go in dark. Go by stars.† Smash up? â€Å"Shouldn't we call for weather?† Kimi laughed. â€Å"You smell storm? See storm in sky?† Tuck looked around. Except for a few mushroom-shaped clouds beyond the reef, it was clear. He smelled only tropical flowers on the breeze and something skunky rising up from his armpits. â€Å"No.† â€Å"Meet me here in half hour.† Kimi started the motor and putted off across the harbor toward a big tank with the Mobil logo stenciled on the side. Tuck walked to the store and bought the supplies, then found the telecom center a few doors down and sent a handwritten fax to the doctor on Alualu to let him know that his new pilot was on the way. He was waiting at the dock when Kimi returned in the skiff, his wig tied down with a red chiffon scarf. Roberto wore a smaller scarf with holes cut for his ears. Strangely, the scarf, in conjunction with the sunglasses, made Roberto look a little like Diana Ross. They say there is a finite number of faces in the world†¦ Tucker threw the heavy pack into the front of the boat, then climbed in and sat down in front of the enormous gas tank. Kimi threw the transmis-sion lever on the motor, twisted the hand grip, and piloted the skiff out into the harbor toward the reef. Kimi steered the boat out of the deep green of the harbor to the turquoise water of the channel. Tuck could see the reef, tan and red coral, just a few feet below the surface at the edge of the channel. He spotted small fish darting around great heads of brain coral. They were more like streaks of color than animals, and as one disappeared another appeared in the line of sight. A few long, slender trumpet fish, looking as if they had been forged from silver, swam adjacent to the boat, then turned and cruised into the reef. They passed the edge of the reef and into the open sea with only a slight bump into the first few swells. Kimi cranked up the motor and the skiff lifted and rode across the tops of the waves, bucking and dropping a gentle six inches, thumping out a drumbeat as counterpoint to the whining out-board. Tucker relaxed and leaned back as Kimi skirted the reef, traveling toward the setting sun until he cleared the island and could make the turn north to Alualu. For the first time since the crash, Tucker felt good, felt as if he was on his way to something better. He'd made a decision and acted on it and in eighteen hours he would be ready to start his new job. He'd be a pilot again, making good money, flying a great aircraft. And with some healing, he'd be a man again too. A quarter mile from Yap, Kimi made a gradual turn that put the sun at their left shoulders. Tuck watched the sun bubble into the ocean. Columns of vertical cumulus clouds turned to cones of pink cotton candy, then as the sun became a red wafer on the horizon, they turned candy-apple red, with purple rays reaching out of them like searchlights. The water was neon over wet asphalt, blood-spattered gunmetal – colors from the cover of a detective novel where heroes drink hard and beauty is always treacherous. Tucker searched the sky for cumulus clouds that looked like they might have aspirations to become thunderheads. How in the hell were you supposed to see weather from sea level? Just then a swell lifted the front of the boat and slammed it down. Tuck felt his tailbone bark on the edge of the seat and was just bracing himself when another swell bucked him to the floor of the boat and a sudden gust of wind soaked him with spray. 16 And Now, the Weather Report The High Priestess sat on the lanai watching the sunset, taking sips from a glass of chilled vodka between bites of a banana. The intercom beeped inside the house and she cocked an ear to the open window. â€Å"Beth, can you come down to my office? This is important.† The Sorcerer was in a panic. He's always in a panic, she thought. She put her vodka down on the bamboo table and tossed the banana out into the sand. She padded across the teak deck, through the french doors to the intercom, and laid an elegant finger on the talk button. â€Å"I'm on my way,† she said. She started toward the back door of the house – a two-room bungalow fashioned from bamboo, teak, and thatch – and caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror. â€Å"Shit.† She was naked, of course, and she'd have to cut across the compound to get to the Sorcerer's office. Life had become a lot more complicated since they had hired the guards. She stormed into the bedroom and grabbed an oversized 49ers jersey with the sleeves cut off out of her closet, then stepped into some sandals and headed out the back door. She wasn't really dressed, but it might keep the Sorcerer off her back and the ninjas off her front. The compound consisted of half a dozen buildings spread over a three-acre clearing covered with white coral gravel and concrete and surrounded by a twelve-foot chain-link fence topped with razor wire. At the front of the compound was a pier and a small beach that led to the only channel through the reef. At the back a new Learjet sat on a concrete pad, just inside the fence. Outside of the fence, the concrete runway bisected the island. Past the runway lay the jungles, the taro patches, the villages, and the beaches of the Shark People. The office was a low concrete building with steel doors and a roof covered in solar electric panels that shone red in the setting sunlight. She nodded to the guard by the door, who didn't move until she passed, then tried to get a glimpse in the side of her jersey. She slammed the door behind her. â€Å"What's up? You almost done with the satellite dish? My shows are coming on.† He turned from a computer screen, a piece of fax paper crumpled in his hand. â€Å"We've hired an idiot.† â€Å"Do you want to be specific or should I assume that one of the ninjas has distinguished himself above the others?† â€Å"The pilot, Beth. He missed the Micro Trader on Yap.† â€Å"Shit!† â€Å"It's worse.† He held out the fax to her. â€Å"It's from him. He's chartered a small boat. He says he'll be here tomorrow.† She looked over the fax, confused. â€Å"That's sooner than he was going to get here. What's the problem?† â€Å"This.† The Sorcerer pushed back in his chair and pointed to the computer screen. The image looked like a blender full of green and black paint. â€Å"It looks like a blender full of green paint,† she said. â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"That, my dear, is Marie.† â€Å"Sebastian, you've been out here too long. I know you like abstract art and all†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's a satellite picture of typhoon Marie. And she's a big one.† He pointed to a dot to one side of the screen. â€Å"That's Alualu.† â€Å"So it's going to miss us.† â€Å"We'll catch the edge of it. We'll have to put the jet in the hangar, tie everything down, but it shouldn't be too bad. The problem is that the eye will pass right over where our pilot is going to be. I can't believe he went to sea without checking the weather.† She shrugged. â€Å"So we have to get a new pilot. Tucker Case, meet Marie.† She smiled and her eyes shone like desolate stars. Too bad, she thought. The pilot would have been fun. 17 Foul-Weather Friend Tuck was amazed by what the human body could achieve when pressed to its limits: lift tractors, trek a hundred miles through the tundra after being partially eviscerated by a Kodiak bear, live for months on grubs and water sucked from soak holes, and in this particular case, vomit for two hours straight after having ingested nothing but alcohol and airline peanuts for two days. The stuff coming out of him was pure bile, burning acrid and sour, and with the bull rider pitching of the boat, half of it always ended up down the front of him. And between heaves there was no respite, just constant motion and soaking spray. His stomach muscles twisted into knots. It started with the swells rising, first a few feet, then to ten. Kimi piloted the boat up the face of each as if climbing a hill; they were dashed by the whitecap, then a sled ride down into a trough where they were faced with the next black wall of water. Roberto climbed down into Kimi's dress and clung there like a furry tumor. The navigator cried out each time the spray washed over him as Roberto's wing claws dug into his ribs. â€Å"Tie down you pack. Tie you belt to the boat,† Kimi shouted. Tuck found a coil of nylon rope and a folding knife in his pack and tied himself and the pack to the front seat. He noticed that the space under the seat was filled with dense Styrofoam. The boat was, theoretically, unsink-able. Good, someone would find their beaten, shark-eaten bodies. He threw a length of rope to Kimi, who secured it around his own waist. The wind came up as if someone had spooled up a jet engine, going from ten to sixty knots in an instant, dumping gallons of water into the boat with each wave, drowning out the sound of the outboard. Kimi screamed an order to Tuck, but it was lost in the wind. Tuck caught one word: â€Å"Bail!† Riding down the face of a wave, he took the time to look around the boat for a container, but found only the gallon of drinking water. He took the folding knife from his pocket and slashed the top off of the jug. He dumped the fresh water, then, with his feet braced against the inside of the bow and his spine against the seat, he began bailing between his legs, taking a full gallon with each scoop, throwing it with the wind. He bailed as if in a â€Å"run for your life† sprint and he was winded and aching after only a minute, but he couldn't seem to get ahead of the storm. The boat was riding lower in the water. He ventured a glance back to Kimi and saw the navigator had found a coffee can and was braced between the seat and the gas tank, bailing with one hand while steering with the other. His scarf and fallen around his neck and was trailing the blonde wig behind him in the wind. The motor was cranked full-out, and Kimi was trying to keep the boat steered into the waves. If one caught them from the side, they would roll and continue to roll until the storm consumed them. Tuck slowed his pace and tried to fall into some kind of sustainable rhythm. It began to rain, the drops coming in almost horizontal, and as they topped the next wave Tuck realized that half of the sky had disap-peared. They were only at the edge of the storm. The navigator was screaming at him. The sea, the sky, the boat faded to black. One second he was squinting saltwater out of his eyes and staring at an obsidian wall ahead of the bow, then everything went black. Total sensory overload, total sensory deprivation. He looked around for the stars, the moon, a highlight or shadow somewhere, but there was nothing but wind and wet and cold and ache. He shivered and nearly curled into the fetal position in the bow to wait for death. The navigator's screaming gave him a bearing. â€Å"We need light!† Tuck braced himself, then dug into the saturated pack until he came out with two waterproof flashlights. Bless you, Jake Skye. He hit the sealed switches. Light. Enough to see that Kimi was steering them parallel to an ominous wall of water. They would be swamped. The navigator slammed the outboard to one side and gunned it. The little boat whipped around just in time to meet the oncoming wave, ride up and over it. Tucker clung to the boat like a newborn monkey to its mother. Tuck lashed the lights to the anchor pulley at the bow, one pointed forward, one into the boat, then he resumed bailing. A monster wave rose up thirty feet and slammed down over them. When Tuck blinked the salt out of his eyes, he saw that the boat was all but a foot full of water. Another wave like that would swamp the motor. Without the motor to steer, they were lost. Bailing wasn't enough. We're going to die, he thought. Then the noise of the storm was gone. â€Å"No, you're not,† came the voice, â€Å"you fuckin' mook.† The roar of the wind and the screams of the navigator were gone. There was only the voice. â€Å"There's a tarpaulin in your pack. Lash it over the boat so you don't take on any more water. Then move to the stern and bail.† Now there was a picture in Tuck's mind of what he was to do. There were eyelets on the outside of the gunwales to accommodate the line around the edges of the tarp. He needed only to hook the line around the boat and tie it off back by Kimi, leaving just enough of the boat open for the navigator to steer and him to bail water. â€Å"You got it, ace?† Tuck could see it and he knew he could do it. â€Å"Thanks,† he said. Forget questioning where the voice was coming from. He nodded. The storm roared back over him. Five minutes later the boat was covered and began to rise in the water as Tuck sat next to the navigator and bailed. â€Å"You steer!† Kimi screamed. Tucker took the tiller as the navigator let go and tried to rub his hand out of a cramped claw. Tuck took the boat up the face of a monster wave and the skiff went airborne. With no resistance on the propeller, the motor shrieked and Tuck dumped the throttle to keep it from blowing up. The bow tilted skyward and Kimi grabbed the gunwale just in time to avoid being dumped off the stern. They landed hard and the motor nearly went under. The motor sputtered. Tuck worked the throttle to bring it back to life. They were already going up the face of another wave, steeper than the last. If the wind caught them at the top, they would flip. Tuck suddenly remembered a surfing move from his youth. The cut back. There was no way they could continue into the wind and into the waves. Halfway up the face of the wave, he twisted the throttle and threw the motor sideways. It coughed as if expelling a hairball, then roared, sending them across the face of the wave. â€Å"What you doing?† Kimi shouted. Tuck didn't answer. He was looking for the pocket, the place where the face of the wave would stay the same. If only the motor could maintain speed. The wave was creeping up on them, looming above their backs, but then they were high enough for the wind to catch them. Just enough boost. Just enough speed. The boat flattened out on the face of the wave. They were surfing, a thirty-foot wall of water waiting to crush them from behind should Tuck lose the pocket. Strangely, Tuck felt elated. It was a small victory, maybe even a temporary one, but they were running with the storm and he was in control of something for the first time since the plane crash. He watched the angle of the boat on the face of the wave, gauged its speed, its steepness, and made the adjustments that would keep them alive. The black water seemed to eat up the flashlight beams, but he could see the wave becoming steeper and rising higher as it climbed the ocean shelf toward the hungry reef. 18 Land Ho The island was little more than a coral cupcake with a guano frosting. Not a hundred yards wide at its widest point and only five feet above sea level at its highest, it served as a resting place for seabirds, a nesting place for turtles, and purchase for forty-eight coconut palms. The foliage and coconuts had all been torn from the palms, and the storm-driven waves breaking on the surrounding reef frothed over the island, beating against the trunks and washing away the precious topsoil. Heavy as they were, some of the palms were being undermined by the sea and would soon wash away. Of the three travelers, only Roberto knew the island was there. As a young bat, he had stopped there to rest after leaving Guam, his birthplace, on his way to someplace where the mangoes were sweet and the natives did not consider fruit bat a delicacy. But right now he was too busy hiding inside Kimi's dress, screeching and clawing and generally trying to keep warm, to mention to the navigator that the reason they were suddenly riding the face of an increasingly steep fifty-foot wave was because they were about to crash over a reef. By the time Tucker Case realized what was happening, they were inside an immense tube of water, surfing inside of the curl of the wave. The flashlights refracted off the green water, illuminating the tube, making it appear as if they were inside a giant seething Coke bottle. Tuck tried to keep the boat pointed toward the narrow circle of blackness where the bottle cap would go, where they would have to go to escape. He'd seen films of surfers shooting the curl on the North Shore of Hawaii. It could be done. He clung to that vision, even as the wave passed over the reef and collapsed upon them. The boat rolled once, twice, three times, then tossed end over end and spun just under the surface as the wave frothed over the island. Kimi and Tuck were wound against the boat by their lifelines, beaten against the trunks of the palms, tossed and battered against the boat. For Tucker there was no up, no down, no way to know when he might take a breath of life-giving air or suck seawater and die. He held his breath until he felt as if he would explode, then was slammed between the boat and a tree and he let go. Roberto's wing claws cut deep furrows into Kimi's ribs as he scrambled for air. The navigator had taken a glancing blow across the forehead as the boat rolled over him and was knocked unconscious. Tuck felt himself pulled away from the boat, spun for a moment, then the pressure of the lifeline around his waist. He could see the lights attached to the boat, still shining, the only visual input in the sensory chaos. The boat had caught on something and he was trailing out behind it. Something bumped against his ribs and he reached for it instinctively, catching a handful of Kimi's dress. Roberto was clinging to Kimi's head, growling into the wind. They had passed through the island and come out on the other side. The boat had caught on the last palm tree before they were swept out to sea again. Tuck caught his lifeline with one hand, then wrapped his other arm around Kimi's chest. Slowly, working against the streaming current, more like a river now that the waves had been broken by the reef and the island, he pulled them back to the boat. The boat was afloat, but barely, held up by the Styrofoam underseats and the air trapped in the gas tank. Only an inch or two of gunwale showed above the water. Tuck crawled in, took one deep breath, then dragged the lifeless navigator in after him. Roberto scrambled on Kimi's head to escape the sea and was almost taken by the wind. Tucker caught the giant bat by the throat and lifted him from Kimi's head to his own back, wincing as Roberto's claws penetrated his shirt. Then he hung the navigator over the side and began pumping the water out of his lungs. After a few seconds, he flipped him again and administered mouth-tomouth until Kimi coughed and vomited up a stream of seawater. Tuck held his head. â€Å"You okay?† Kimi nodded as he sucked in painful lungfuls of air. Once he had his breath, he said, â€Å"Roberto?† Tuck pointed to the little dog face that was looking over his shoulder. Kimi managed a smile. â€Å"Roberto! Come.† He took the bat from Tuck's back and held him to his chest. They were safe, relatively; sheltered by the island from the monster swells, they had only the wind and the rain to deal with. The tarpaulin was gone. The boat was full of water, but it was afloat. Miraculously, the flashlights were still attached. Tucker could see the tree that had caught them. He fell back into the bow, hooking his armpits over the gunwales, then slipped into a state of exhausted unconsciousness that could almost be called sleep. 19 Water, Water At first light the coconut palm that had saved them finally gave up and tipped over, releasing the boat to the sea. The outgoing tide carried the skiff and its sleeping passengers through a break in the reef to the open ocean. Tuck, sitting chest deep in seawater in the bow, was dreaming of being lost in the desert when a flying fish smacked him in the side of the head. Startled, he reached up instinctively, as one might slap at a biting mosquito, and caught the fish in his right hand. He opened his eyes. In his mind he was still in the desert, dying of thirst, and the fact that he was now holding on to something that looked like a trout with wings seemed a cruel surrealist joke. He looked around, saw the boat, Kimi slumped in the back, ocean and sky, and nothing else – there was no land in sight. He threw the fish at Kimi. It bounced off the navigator's forehead and into the sea. Kimi screamed and sat up abruptly. Roberto – sunglasses akimbo – poked his head out the neck of Kimi's dress and screeched at Tucker. â€Å"What you do that for?† Kimi said. â€Å"Nice piece of navigation,† Tuck said. Then he mocked Kimi's broken English. â€Å"You smell storm? You see storm in sky?† â€Å"Oh, you big-time pilot. Why you not check weather? What kind of dumb fuck American try to go two hundred miles in outboard, huh?† â€Å"You told me it was no problem.† â€Å"You paying Kimi big money. Not a problem.† â€Å"Well, it's a fucking problem now, isn't it?† Kimi stroked Roberto's head to calm him. â€Å"Stop yelling. You scare Roberto.† â€Å"I don't care about Roberto. We're half-sunk in the middle of the Pacific and we don't have a motor. I'd say we have a problem.† Kimi stopped ministering to Roberto and looked up. â€Å"No motor?† He turned and looked back at the empty motor board. There were marks where the clamps had raked across it as the motor pulled off in the tumble. He turned back to Tuck and grinned sheepishly. â€Å"Whoops.† â€Å"We're dead,† Tuck said. Kimi looked back again where the motor should have been, just to make sure that it was still gone. â€Å"I ask that man, ‘Is motor on good?' He say, ‘Oh yes, is clamp on very tight.' I pay him good money and he lie. Oh, Kimi is very mad.† Roberto barked in agreement. â€Å"Stop it!† Tucker shouted. Roberto ducked into Kimi's dress again. â€Å"We've got to get some of this water out of here. We have no motor. We can't go anywhere. We're adrift, lost†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Alive,† Kimi interrupted. â€Å"I get you out of typhoon alive and you just yell and say bad things. I quit. You get new navigator. Roberto say you mean, nasty, Chevy-driving, milk-drinking, American dog fucker.† â€Å"I don't drink milk,† Tuck said. Ha! Won that round. â€Å"That what he say.† â€Å"Roberto does not talk!† â€Å"Not to you, dog fucker. You no†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Kimi paused in mid-rant and retrieved the coffee can, which had been tied to the boat with a string, and started furiously scooping water out of the boat. â€Å"You right. Now we bail.† â€Å"What?† Tuck looked up to see Kimi was looking, wide-eyed, out to sea. Tuck followed his gaze to a spot twenty yards in front of the boat where a triangular fin was describing slow arcs in the swells. â€Å"Hurry,† Kimi shouted. â€Å"He coming in.† Tucker reached for his pack, causing the bow to dip under the water by a foot. Before he could adjust his weight to counterbalance the boat, the shark came over the gunwale, snapping its jaws like a man-eating puppet. Tuck stood up to escape the jaws and the bow lurched deeper underwater. The shark slid into the boat as Tuck went backward over the side. Fear bolted through his body as if the water had been electrified. He wanted to move in all directions at once. He kicked hard and came up a few feet from the boat to see the shark slide back into the water. â€Å"Get in boat!† Kimi screamed. He was standing with his feet wide, trying to keep the boat from capsizing. Tuck kicked so hard that he raised out of the water to the waist, then he fell toward the boat, catching the gunwale with one hand. Kimi shifted his weight to counterbalance and Tuck pulled himself in just as something hit his foot. He jerked his foot so hard he nearly went out of the boat on the opposite side, then he twisted in time to see the shark sliding down into the water with his shoe in its mouth. â€Å"Behind you!† Kimi screamed. Another shark rose up at Tuck's back. He swung around and punched it on the snout as hard as he could, taking the skin off of his knuckles on the shark's sandpaper skin. The shark slid away. The motion in the bow caused the stern to dip underwater and the next attack came at Kimi. He tossed Roberto into the air as the shark came into the boat. Roberto spread his wings and soared into the sky. Kimi reached down and came up with the rubber fuel line. Tucker looked for anything they could use as a weapon, then remembered the folding knife he had put in his pocket the night before. It was still there. Kimi was slapping the shark with the rubber hose and backing his way up onto the huge gas tank that made up the midsection of the boat. Tuck opened the knife, then lunged forward at the navigator. â€Å"Kimi!† Kimi reached back and Tuck fit the handle of the knife into his hand. The shark had worked half of its nine-foot body into the boat. Its tail thrashed at the water to power the shark up onto the gas tank. Kimi scrambled backward. Roberto swooped and screeched in the air above. Kimi's right foot found purchase on the screw cap of the gas tank and he sat up. Tuck thought he was going to strike the shark with the knife, but instead he cut the gas line and squirted a stream of gas into the shark's gaping mouth. The shark thrashed and slid off the side of the boat. Kimi brandished the knife in the air. â€Å"Yeah, fuckface, you run away. That not taste so sweet as Kimi, huh?† He fell back onto the gas tank and took a deep breath. â€Å"We show that shark who the boss.† Tuck said, â€Å"Kimi, there's more.† He pointed to set of fins approaching from the stern.

Deborah Tannen’s Theory Essay

In contemporary society biological factors are no longer the sole components that distinguish men and women. Rather anything from clothing or hairstyles to make-up or accessories can indicate specific messages about an individual. According to Deborah Tannen, women are more frequently considered marked beings in our society while men have fewer clothing or style options and are therefore free to remain unmarked. Although Tannen argues that it is possible for men to remain purely â€Å"unmarked† her assertions do not hold up well in a changing world. Because the term â€Å"marked† is a social construction, it is not possible to remain completely unmarked, as styles and trends repeatedly change with different ages, generations, and geographic locations. In her study Tannen reveals that among four women and eight men present during a business meeting the women had several more features to observe compared to one another. However, Tannen’s conclusions seem partially invalid for her findings are based on only one particular event. In a business-like environment, it is more likely to find conservatively dressed men with less notable markings than women. Even though women may not only be identified based on their apparent style but also how they choose to present themselves. (i.e. Baggy clothes vs. tight clothes, make-up vs. no makeup). In general, Tannen’s findings appear questionable mainly because her approach when defining a â€Å"marked† individual seems limiting. For example, Tannen would call a man wearing a shirt a marked individual. However, it is quite common for men in Scotland to wear skirts. Without ever considering these geographic differences, Tannen makes bold assumptions based on her own biases. When speculating a specific sub-culture such as the generational â€Å"rave†/dance culture, Tannen’s argument holds no validity. Clearly both men and women in this culture wear similar styles of clothing and accessories that are in essence, uni-sex. While piercings and jewelry might â€Å"mark† a man in society such stylistic choices are considered quite common and acceptable among â€Å"ravers†. Similarly women who wear baggy clothes and baseball caps are not â€Å"marked† as less feminine than those who wear tighter clothes and make-up within this sub-culture are. According to Tannen, â€Å"each of the women at the conference had to make decisions about hair, clothing, make-up and accessories and each decision carried meaning†¦. men can choose style that are marked but they don’t have to, and in this group none did.† (231-2). Although Tannen makes the distinction between the style of men and women at a business conference, she fails to mention that their age and field of work influences what should be â€Å"marked vs. unmarked† and what styles appear appropriate vs. inappropriately. Clearly, Tannen states that all four women are marked yet some are considered more severely marked and judged than others are. Specifically, the women with the long, blond, hair, dressed in tight clothing and heels were more severely marked in Tannen’s eyes. However, Tannen never mentions that in another profession, such as the entertainment or fashion industry, the women style might be considerable less marked than an individual dressed more simple and conservatively. In conclusion, the assumptions that Tannen makes in her article infer that men in society can remain unmarked. Although men are objectified and sexualized less than women this does not mean that they are not in the public eye. Tannen’s view on today’s â€Å"marked† society is based truly on her opinion. She omits geographical, generational and age differences when making her conclusion.

A comparative analysis of traditional software engineering and agile software development Essay

Various industries handled information and data manually until 1960 when the first software development methodology was hinted. Software development methodologies are key steps in development of information system. Different methodologies have different requirements in terms of cost, time frame, expert requirement, size of the business, maintenance cost, and flexibility in case of changes in the future among others. Therefore, organizations evaluate each methodology in order to come up with the most effect one for their information system development. Software methodology involves a structural framework to plan and manage the processes that are involved in development of information system.Prototyping and dynamic system methodology will be critically evaluated to understand the role of software methodologies in information system development. Dynamic system development methodology                The method ensures frequent delivery of information system in businesses. The methodology is can be reversed during development in case of errors, and the requirement is based on high level and integrated testing throughout lifecycle, which allows collaboration and cooperation between all stakeholders (Association of Modern Technologies, 2014 Software Development Methodologies) Critical evaluation                Since this methodology involves end users and teamwork decision, it forms the best choice for information system development. Future changes can be accommodated since changes are reversible. This methodology follows PRINCE concept since it start with initiation of a project and conclude with crossing of the project. Prototype methodology                In this methodology, incomplete software is created, which differs with the final product (software development and engineering, 2012 n.p.). The methodology makes it possible to evaluate the software during the development process and design before it gets to the final step. The software can also be tried before integration in an organization. This method allows involvement of the users and evaluation during designing phase and thus increasing the likely hood of easier implementation in any organization. Critical evaluation                In this methodology, users, builder and system interaction are mandatory. It requires expertise for both builders and end-users. With this model, time and cost are decreased compared to traditional method, which becomes a major consideration when developing information system. This methodology is applied mostly in situations there is risk uncertainty. This methodology is best applied in managerial systems, as its main objective is planning, direction, controlling and decision-making. This forms one of the choices for information system since users can be able to do a value analysis and investment can be made at relative increments. PRINCE plays an important role in information system development since it establishes the management, control, and application of the appropriate software for information system. It gives more insight about the software developed and provides authenticity of the software, which is important in making information system decisions. Question 2 According to (Bantra et al, (2010 p 383) agile methodology is based on various values such as Individual and interaction over processes and tools, Working software under comprehensive documentation, Customer or end user collaboration over a contract negotiation the and Responding to changes over following a plan                The agile methodology builds flexible information systems that can be upgraded or changes in future (Rao, Naidu, & Chakka, 2011 p. 42). For example, if an organization wants to expand its system, it can build its new information system on the existing system. Hence, the methodology is adopted where future changes in the information system are expected. Time aspect makes this approach cost effective. The methodology involves the end users at every stage making software development process effective and accurate (Aitken & Ilango 2013 4758). In addition, the process is fast and efficient thus ensuring that the information system development easy and economical. The traditional methodologies are fixed and do not allow future changes (Aitken & Ilango 2013 p. 4756). That means that once the information system is developed using the traditional methodology, it will be hard to build a new system using it. The expansions or future changes in the information system require engineers and software developers to start a new system. This is not cost effective for business since they are always in a constant growth and keep on improving their information systems. Thus, agile methodology best suits development of a flexible information system that can be upgraded easily. Question 3                The Structured systems analysis and design method, (SSADM) is one of the widely used methodologies in computer applications in private and public sectors since its inception in 1981. The methodology operates under three principle techniques known as logical data, flow data, and event modelling (Al-Humaidan, & Rossiter, 2011, p 3). Logical data modelling (LDM) technique involves identification and documentation of the necessary data for business or organization information system. The information that the business wants to record on the information systems is identified and documented for inclusion in software development. Consequently, the data flow modelling (DFM) techniques involves identification, modelling and documentation of how the identified data using LDM technique will flow in the information system. It gives details on how various data will be transformed in the system. Then, event modelling (EM) technique identifies and documents the sequence of events in DFM. The techniques help the engineers to develop information system that meets the end users need since it allows participation of all the stakeholders. However, inadequate research may result to development of poor information systems, which may be cost to the business. The SSADM uses various tools that are important in development of information system. Data flow diagram, (DFD) highlights all the data pathways, while other tools such as data dictionary, decision trees and tables give guidelines on data classifications. The tools make operation of the information easier for the end users. Unified modelling language, (UML) is a language used in software engineering. It helps the developers to create a system using a standardized language that can be understood easily by both the participants and the system. The main techniques and tools used are diagram and language structures such as class, interactions and activity diagrams (Al-Humaidan, & Rossiter, 2011, p 4). The main difference between SSADM and UML is that the former interfaces are composed of design dialogue while the latter utilises components and classes of modelled diagrams as interface (Al-Humaidan, & Rossiter, 2011 p. 24-29). In addition, SSADM uses requirement catalogue as the data resources while UML uses modelled stereotype features as data sources. Question 4                Software development approach entails identification the information system issues and making decision of how the issues should be solved and the solution remains viable. Critical evaluation                The approach helps to develop software in a top down development consisting of independent steps that are completed sequentially. The engineers are able to evaluate each step independent and develop consecutive phases based on completed ones. The methodology is fast and effective for development of small information systems. However, methodology is not suitable to develop large information system because it is slow and cumbersome. In addition, the approach is costly and a short term. According to Stoica et al, (2013, p. 68) this method requires product definition, clear understanding of requirements and technology, and expertise and the system is short lived. End users approach                In this approach, the end user is the developer of the software. He or she designs the software such that it is able to meet his or her needs. This is done through modification of commercial off-shelf software (COTs). Critical evaluation                The approach does not involve formal designing of the information system. The approach does not require documentation of the project. The end user is the main controller of the information system developed from this approach. However, it is not fit for large business and lack of documentation limits future changes of the information system would be very hard. Thus, the approach is not economical especially of growing enterprises. When the size of the project is large, the software development approach is based on the cost or budget limitations, timeframe taken by the approach, and the flexibility of the approach. This is because, the organizations designs information systems that are economical in that they does not affect their profitability and operations. Approaches that are cheap and are executed in a short span of time are preferred to others that are costly and take long time before completion References Aitken, A., & Ilango, V. 2013. A comparative analysis of traditional software engineering and agile software development. In  System Sciences (HICSS), 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on  (pp. 4751-4760). IEEE. Al-Humaidan, F., & Rossiter, B. N. 2011. A Taxonomy and Evaluation for Systems Analysis Methodologies in a Workflow Context: Structured Systems Analysis Design Method (SSADM), Unified Modelling Language (UML), Unified Process, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and Organisation Process Modelling (OPM).  Technical Report Series-University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne Computing Science. Baguio central University 2011.Dynamic System Development Methodology.[Online]. http://www.slideshare.net/mayjoyce89/dynamic-system-development-method. Batra, D., Weidong, X., VanderMeer, D., &Dutta, K. 2010.Balancing Agile and Structured Development Approaches to Successfully Manage Large Distributed Software Projects: A Case Study from the Cruise Line Industry. Communications Of The Association For Information Systems, 27 383. Habib M, 2013. Agile software development methodologies and how to apply them. [Online] Retrieved from http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/604417/Agile-software-development-methodologies-and-how-t.accessed Rao, K. N., Naidu, G. K., & Chakka, P. 2011. A study of the agile software development methods, applicability and implications in industry.  International Journal of Software Engineering and its applications,  5,2, 35-45. Stoica, M., Mircea, M., &Ghilic-Micu, B. 2013. Software Development: Agile vs. Traditional. InformaticaEconomica, 17,4, 64-76. Source document

Media Audiences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Media Audiences - Essay Example Stuart Hall defines culture as, "actual grounded terrain of practices, representations, languages and customs of any specified society (Hall, 1996)." By this definition, western culture is its own society, but when referred to, the regions most commonly thought of as embodying western culture are Europe and the United States. The most significant aspect of western culture has to do with the ideology of the hegemony in charge. In western culture this would be the business moguls especially those that own media companies, majority members of government Hall defines representation as "How the world is socially constructed and represented to and by us (Hall, 1996)." The representation is key because it dictates how a group of people will interact with their culture and also how other cultures will preconceive and then receive members of a certain society. Highly acclaimed French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has done much work on culture and its influence on decision making. He finds that the public has no genuine representation in democratic societies. When people tend to watch media coverage of certain events and they see the results of polls and statistics, they perceive the information from the perspective of a rational choice theorist. Most people based their decisions on the grounds of believing this theory, but Bourdieu is in opposition to it. Rational Choice theory is the belief that human beings naturally choose a given path dependant on whether it is the best means to achieve their goals. It is a belief in methodological individualism; this meaning it adopts the belief that social situations, and group behavior is solely the result of individual action. Within this theory, corporations and national governments are viewed as individual operators as well. The problem that arises with this theory are the certain assumptions. Thi s theory assumes human beings are aware of certain information, of which they aren't always aware, and it assumes that individuals consistently make mental calculations to determine their next decision. He points out how this belief contributes to the human tendency to conform when he argues that, Doing one's duty as a man means conforming to the social order, and this is a fundamentally a question of respecting rhythms, keeping pace, not falling out of line. 'Don't we all eat the same wheat cake Don't we all get up at the same time These various ways of reasserting solidarity contain an implicit definition of the fundamental virtue of conformity. (Bourdieu, 1977) He later goes on to show that conformities only other opposition is eccentricity, which becomes natural for those intrigued by it irregularity. the opposite of which is the desire to stand apart from others. Working while the others are resting, staying in the house while the others are working in the fields, traveling on deserted roads, wandering round the streets of the village while the others are asleep or at the market - these are all suspicious forms of behavior. The eccentric who does everything differently... (Bourdieu, 1977) Bourdieu believes that society cannot just be analyzed in terms of economic classes and ideologies, but that individual education and culture must be applied as well. Bourdieu does not separate people based on class and then analyze them, but groups everyone into what he calls a field/ social arena. This contradicts classic Marxism, as well

What are the effects in the job market when women are less educated Research Paper

What are the effects in the job market when women are less educated than man - Research Paper Example As a result, these women, should they be forced by need to work, will be confined to low productivity and income jobs. Women, up to now, are still vastly overrepresented among unpaid workers or in the informal sector. As education and experience are valuable inputs to productivity and earnings, non-diversification of the human capital deeply impacts the rate of economic development. Education is widely recognized as the prerequisite to economic security and opportunity. In analysis, the state of diversification in the job market presupposes the condition that there is no enhanced creativity in limited viewpoints as women is often not in the equation. This creates a narrow selection in the existing talent pool that often stagnates growth. The job market will negate a picture of strength as there would be less demand for labor without diversified aptitudes and abilities in its workforce. It will also have less ability to demand higher absolute and relative wages as job specialization would be diminished. A relatively weak job market ultimately prevents the increase in employment which would be accompanied by slow economic growth and perpetuates further market and institutional failures (World Bank, 2012). World Bank. (2012). Gender Difference in Employment and Why They Matter. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development:

Critical thinking and logic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical thinking and logic - Essay Example gh studies and involvement among many people nowadays, ethics is now being linked to critical thinking for people to assess more intensively and extensively what is morally right and what is not. The principles and rules of critical thinking are applicable to ethical reasoning because they encourage people to question and not simply accept doctrines or beliefs. According to Richard Paul, â€Å"the integration of principles with purported facts within a particular perspective produces the judgment that this or that act is morally right or wrong†. A person who is given an ethical view can use critical thinking to verify its global acceptance and correctness. On the other hand, a person who is presented with a belief and does not apply critical thinking endangers himself of being manipulated. If everyone followed the rules and guidelines of logic, there would still be a reason for ethical decision-making. Elder and Paul claim that â€Å"developing one’s ethical reasoning abilities is crucial because there is in human nature a strong tendency toward egotism, prejudice, self-justification, and self-deception†. Therefore, it is not enough that a person is able to think critically but s/he must have an ethical foundation from which to base ethical reasoning using critical thinking. Paul, Richard. (1993). Ethics Without Indoctrination. â€Å"Critical Thinking: What Every Student Needs to Survive in a Rapidly Changing World. The Critical Thinking

Global investment house ksc Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Global investment house ksc - Assignment Example The income statement on the other hand focuses on the period, usually 12 months within which the accounts were prepared. However, the information about what happened in the past years and the asset and liability position does not provide all the needs of all the users of the financial statements. There is the need for some further information and guidelines that provides hints to users of financial statements and other interested stakeholders. One of the main areas that is of great importance is a prediction of the survivability of the business into the foreseeable future. This is known in general as the â€Å"Going Concern† convention. In the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), there is a standard that ensures that going concern is reported in the financial statement. IAS 1 requires that financial statements a disclose the Going Concern status of the entity in a given period. This provides a standardized basis for a universal approach to reporting going concer n that can aid comparability on a year-by-year basis as well as a company-to-company basis. Research Problem Clearly, Going Concern reporting as stipulated by IAS 1 seeks to ensure that financial statements reflect the survivability of the entity the report is prepared about. ... Aims and Objectives of Study The aim of the research is to undertake a critical review of the concept of Going Concern and how it is attained in Financial Reporting. In order to attain this end, the following objectives will be explored: 1. A critical review literature review of the Accounting concept of Going Concern; 2. An examination of the effectiveness of Going Concern reporting in businesses; 3. A practical evaluation of Going Concern reporting in a Kuwaiti entity 4. An analysis of a financial report of a Kuwaiti entity to ascertain the Going Concern reporting procedures. Going Concern Convention â€Å"The going concern postulate or continuity postulation, holds that business entity will continue its operations long enough to realize its projects, commitments and ongoing activities† (Riahi, 2010 p212). Going concern is therefore a convention which indicates that a business will continue to remain operational and pay its bills and remain liquid into the future. â€Å"Goi ng concern is not only about the net book value of a firm's assets, but also such elements like goodwill and likely future profitability, assuming the existing management remain in control of the entity† (Brower and Brueschke, 2012). This means that going concern is evaluated and analyzed by the examination of the firm's assets as well as other indicators of continuous operations. Thus, it will involve the hard and soft elements of an entity including the assets and other intangibles like going concern which provides clues on how a firm will remain operational even if the company is assured of getting customers to remain liquid. Another angle through which a business' going concern can be evaluated is â€Å"...the amount of

Marketing Planning and Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing Planning and Strategy - Assignment Example Marketing as a process entails combination of the four, marketing strategies, which include;Marketing as a process entails combination of the four, marketing strategies, which include;   -Identification of the product, its selection, and development   -The process of determining the product’s value   -Identification of a mode of distributing the product to the consumer.   -The process of developing and implementing a strategy for promoting the product to the consumers   Marketing is, therefore, the process of acquiring the appropriate skills that improve the marketing process. The marketing professional entails the acquisition of skills that allow the individuals to associate effectively with the target market (Payne, 2002).Q2. Enrollment to a marketing program is a need since it an important course in that, after completion, will allow an individual to peruse a career efficiently by use of the skills acquired in the program. In addition, the course will assist in ac quiring basic skills that enhance effective communication and relation with various individuals (Danie, 2014).Q3. The consumers of a given product have the needs and want to satisfy through purchasing a particular product and the marketer is responsible for convincing the consumer on how the product will satisfy their needs and wants (Dierksmeier, 2013).Q4. No. this is because marketers evaluate the product and the needs, which it can satisfy before deciding on the target market.Q5. Apple serves as a perfect company that effectively focuses on its target market while Motorola electronics does not have a specific target market.

Primitivism and the development of novel artistic expression Assignment

Primitivism and the development of novel artistic expression - Assignment Example The essay "Primitivism and the development of novel artistic expression" discusses the art of Primitivism. Primitive here has reference too to an idea during the time of primitivism’s first flowering of a more pristine, less corrupted and closer to paradise kind of sensibility that was supposed to be reflected in the art of less advanced societies. There is an element too in a return to the primitive to the artist’s rebellion against the loss of a more carefree, less repressed sexuality, among other things, with the effect too that in the works of some of the artists, such as Gauguin, there was an intentional focus on female sexuality and nudity among the artists’ subjects. Other attributions to primitivism made in more contemporary definitions of the movement especially paint the movement in a positive light, more so during the 19th century, when the movement was identified with such attributions as regeneration, ancestors, and fertility. This, even as the movem ent itself came to refine its focus of interest to art from the Islands of the Pacific as well as Africa. Moreover, a more generalized emphasis on primitive societies among other social science disciplines in the 20th century generally gave the West more immediate access to those societies, sans the filtering mechanisms that the primitivism art movement first introduced. This latter more direct access by general Western society through the sciences to those primitive societies generally weakened the interest of the west on primitivism.

International Trade Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Trade Logistics - Essay Example If it is the case of recycling, the process includes what is beyond the final consumer. The international management of logistics involves the movements of goods, services and people also. It depends on the nature of transport. For example, in case of airlines, the movement of people dictates the movement of aircraft and thus the movement of cargo. The movement of the people beyond the borders in search of employment also can be termed as a part of international logistics. This is because they are the human resource for the companies and they move towards the company. Yet times not only the goods, even people move towards the goods. This also can be considered as logistics operation. If the borders of any two nations are peaceful, the people cross the border in search of employment, livelihood and bargains that are unavailable at home. 1 One cannot define to pin point logistics or its systems. At present the logistics is seen as the activities that facilitate the different cycles in the supply chain. They are customer order cycle, the replenishment cycle, the manufacturing cycle, and the procurement cycle. The international logistics involves the movement across the borders of different countries. Naturally the movements between any two countries are complex in nature when compared to domestic movements. These movements when involve ships need to move through port and being at sea is time consuming. Some companies and people prefer this because this is the cheapest mode of transport. When the time taken for the transport is more, the differences between the time zones will make the movements a bit complex. The documentation required for the international shipping adds to the complex nature of the movements through ships. The documentation required for international movement involves the need of employment of experts regarding the documentation. This is due to the inventory in transit management involved in the transportation. The inventory in place increases the information management complexity and demands of international logistics. The company involved in international business should have an international logistics department that is responsible for the management of communications. The department will plan for the communications, control of the logistics activities. 2 3. International Transportation and Trade Facilitation The international transportation and trade facilitation is facing many challenges due to the explosive growth in trade between the nations. As a result the transportation is being faster and flexible to facilitate trade. This involves the fast moving container ships and improved container handling practices along with intermodal systems. This resulted in privatization of transport and information industries and this is a need for the interna

General principles Essay Example for Free

General principles Essay 1. Film theory is how we study movies based general principles. It serves as a model for understanding movies and their different meanings. It is looking at film using a particular perspective, much like using different approaches in analyzing literature. Film criticism meanwhile, is focused more on the artistic value and appeal of the movie to the viewing public. It has two forms: reviews for the common viewer and critical essays for scholars. 2. Realist theory explains that our experiences can be emulated in movies by the help of cinematic language and technology, meaning movies as a representation of reality. Formalist theory explains films are more than a representation of reality. The film artists give form to reality 3. Explicit meaning is what the movie presents on the surface. Meaning the movie clearly shows what it is trying to project, viewers instantly get it without much effort. Implicit meaning is the message within the movie that is not obvious. It is the meaning behind the actions of the film. It is the message of the filmmaker that requires more or less critical analysis. 4. Mimesis is the Greek word for the imitative representation of the world in art and literature. It is basically the violence portrayed in films, suggesting that it is part of reality. Katharsis (catharsis) popularized by Aristotle in his Poetics, on the other hand is what Aristotle used to describe tragedy, it produces emotions of pity and fear. 5. Kathrarsis (catharsis) means purgation or purification. Aristotle used this Greek term in his definition of a tragedy in his Poetics, he said that tragedy must have katharsis, meaning tragedies should produce emotions of pity and fear from the audience. Looking for catharsis in movies is beneficial because it can either have a positive or negative effect on the viewers. 6. Ideology does not simply mean an idea. Ideology means a variety of related ideas, how humans see life and culture. In film, ideology is the ideas of individuals, group, class, or culture that reflects their social needs and aspirations. Ideological meaning in movies is the beliefs depicted in it. It is the belief of the filmmakers, the belief of the characters, or the population’s belief during the movie was made. Feminism, Marxism, and cultural studies are considered ideological theories because they represent ideas that attempt to explain how people and societies function. 7. Auteur theory states that the director is the author of a film. Its application has two forms: the director is judged by looking at all the films he or she has made as a whole, looking at style. The other is a classification of great directors based on a hierarchy of styles. The director must have directed numerous films to be an auteur. The style of the director should be as unique as novelist’s 8. Genre study is the process of understanding some basic ways of how genre functions to develop interesting critiques of genre films. The evolution of major film genres made filmmakers conscious about genre history and conventions, thus the remakes, parodies, sequels, and hybridization that we see today. 9. The study of the phenomenon (or art) known as film and studying film using a certain perspective or approach are involved in the study of film history. 10. Aesthetic approach evaluates movies and directors by looking at how artistic they and their films are. It is sometimes called the masterpiece approach or great man approach. Social approaches evaluate movies on the criteria of how significant they are in relation to the society. Questions when evaluating film are: What is the film’s significance to the society? What social issues does it present? and if it provides solutions.

Our Duties to the Environment Essay Example for Free

Our Duties to the Environment Essay Technology, unfortunately, has two-faces; while it can aid the human race in easing tasks, curing countless diseases, and even lengthening life spans, it can also destroy the earth and its inhabitants. There is much good to be said about the development of the human race when it comes to technology, but it cannot be denied that insofar as Mother Earth is concerned, there were countless of damages inflicted through the process of development. There is a need to evaluate the costs and problems that will be met whenever new developments arise, as well as find means to finally minimize these problems. In order to come up with the information on how such problems may be minimized, there needs to be an analysis of the literature regarding such issues (Pojman and Vaughn 895). Despite the fact that various literature has been written about the problem, the human race cannot escape the fact that they might have not done enough to address such issues. Our Duties to the Environment shows that in order for such problems to be solved, there is a need for humans to acknowledge the fact that technology and development can cause as much harm as good to everyone. Work Cited Pojman, Louis, and Lewis Vaughn. â€Å"Our Duties to the Environment. † The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature. , Louis Pojman and Lewis Vaughn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 893-895. Print.

Impact of World Trade Organization (WTO) Policies

Impact of World Trade Organization (WTO) Policies World trade organization (WTO): Introduction: World exchange transactions designed for understandings and settlements for exchange liberalization have been occurring persistently since 1986, with the initiation of the Uruguay Round of transactions in the schema of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which turned into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. Since the establishing of the WTO the transactions have been highlighted by an arrangement of ecclesiastical gatherings where real choices are to be made by the most abnormal amount of government authorities. Some of these gatherings have been disappointments all alone terms— practically as regularly as they have been effective. Contrasts over the regulation of horticultural exchange whats more homestead endowments assumed focal parts in the most broadcasted of the disappointments, in Seattle in 1999 and in Cancun, Mexico, in 2003. Verifiable setting At the point when inspecting issues behind this worldwide contention, it is vital to comprehend the verifiable connection of exchange liberalization. World financial history has long been described by cycles—or pendulum swings—between more liberated exchange and protectionism. Swings to exchange liberalization are frequently alluded to as financial incorporation— as in coordinating the economies of Canada, the US and Mexico through NAFTA—and the latest swing has been named financial globalization. It would be wrong to assume that incorporation and globalization have never happened some time recently. The most clear authentic illustration is that of European frontiers, in which the economies of the states were incorporated into the undeniably worldwide economies of Europe Structural Adjustment: Forerunner to Trade Agreements The South required obligation rebuilding and the North needed more noteworthy access to Southern markets. The arrangement was obligation rebuilding molded upon the selection of Structural Adjustment Packages (Saps) by Southern governments. A focal peculiarity of these Saps was exchange liberalization including the slicing of imports levies and portions, steep cuts in residential endowments, and begin of no matter how you look at it privatization of state administrations and services. From the GATT to the Uruguay Round and the WTO An arrangement of exchange talks which kept going from 1986 to 1994, and that extended the tenets of worldwide exchange to cover administrations and protected innovation. An exchange round is the name given to arrangement of arrangements where nations attempt to achieve concessions to exchange issue, for example, levy diminishment. The World Exchange Organization (WTO) was made as one of the understandings of the Uruguay Round. The WTO started life in 1995 as another worldwide trade organization, changing the GATT into a more enforceable worldwide exchange code focused around an arrangement of approvals for rebelliousness. The expressed goals of the world trade organization incorporate raising expectations for everyday comforts, guaranteeing full job and a vast and relentlessly becoming volume of genuine wage and viable request, and growing the generation of and exchange merchandise and administrations, in different words, financial improvement focused around the business. This impli es that WTO understandings are intended to bring free market standards into worldwide exchange, through two fundamental components: 1) decreasing exchange boundaries, and 2) applying nondiscriminatory standards. One other imperative guideline, from a certain point of view, is attention for creating nations. Current Status of the WTO Negotiations After the disappointment of the Cancun clerical gathering, arrangements on rural exchange and sponsorships moved in two different bearings. From one perspective, both the U’s whats more the EU hurried to arrange and now and again sign local and respective organized commerce assertions. These incorporated the signings and arrangements between the U’s whats more Central America (CAFTA), the Andean area, the Middle East, Australia, Africa and others, including the stalled arrangements for the Western Hemisphere (FTAA), (Q.A 2003) what’s more between the EU and Latin America, EU extension, and respective negotiations. (Becker, Elizabeth. 2004a) Then again, the US and the EU have escalated their endeavors to concur on another skeleton for WTO arrangements post-Cancun. This took the type of transactions on the alleged July skeleton that closed in Geneva on August 1, 2004. Eyewitnesses noted overwhelming weight strategies by the U’s whats more 6. The key issues in present exchange arrangements 6.1. Grocery Access This is an issue for both Northern and Southern governments. As we saw in the chronicled audit above, access to Southern nation markets for U’s furthermore European Union (EU) fares was a key inspiration first for Saps and later for exchange transactions. Then again, the asymmetry by which Northern nations right now depend on a scope of non-exchange boundaries (Ntbs) to offer more noteworthy assurance to their home markets than Southern nations are allowed for theirs, has transformed business sector access to Northern markets, for Southern fares, into a focal revitalizing cry of the present round of transactions. This was one of the key focuses of accord that united the purported G-20 which incorporated various vast Southern agro export forces like Brazil, China, South Africa and India—in their hindering of new assertions in Cancun. 6.2. Local Subsidies Domestic sponsorships are government installments and administrations to ranchers and agribusinesses, and are off and on again mistaken for residential helps, with is a more extensive classification that additionally incorporates instruments to help crop whats more animal’s costs, in the same way as import duties and standards, and value helps. While the U’s whats more EU formally underwrite slicing appropriations, in practice they have been extremely hesitant to do along these lines, and have regularly depended on what faultfinders and Southern governments see as camouflaging exchange bending appropriations as non-exchange contorting ones. Consequently the endowment issue has assumed a key part in numerous fizzled exchange summits. Agriculturist associations, then again, and numerous exchange economists, see the sponsorship issue in an unexpected way. They indicate studies demonstrating that regardless of the fact that all Northern exchange contorting appropriations we re uprooted tomorrow, unnecessarily low yield also domesticated animals costs would even now plague worldwide merchandise markets Send out Subsidies This is an alternate significant bone of controversy, however one in which evident U’s also EU concessions as of late help re-begin stalled WTO arrangements. As per WTO rationale, these countries, particularly the EU, have huge appropriations for exporters (to a great extent agribusinesses and not ranchers), which are intensely exchange mutilating. The US has since quite a while ago utilized fare credits excluded in the WTOs specialized meaning of fare appropriations to sidestep the fare sponsorship issue and point the finger at the EU 7. Dumping and Subsidies: Unraveling the Confusion Dumping is what is driving a great many agriculturists off the area all through the Third World also into urban slums and global transient streams. It causes the low product costs that make gaining a work off the area progressively impossible.( Bullard, Nicola. 2004). It is likewise unlawful under settled global guidelines. Yet due to the way these principles are composed, they are basically unenforceable when the complainant is a poor nation. First and foremost, nations must have residential enactment that makes dumping illicit. Numerous creating nations dont have such enactment. Second, the organizations (or ranchers) influenced must take after that residential law, which normally intimates indicating damage to the segment all in all an overwhelming test when the segment is involved a million or more smallholders. While dumping is actually the most obvious issue of the current global exchange administration in ranch items, the media keeps on focusing on US and EU appropriations. Th e disarray over sponsorships and dumping has deliberately or unintentionally reached out to the Cairns gathering countries, by the G-20 arranging coalition, and by elements and individuals as various as the World Bank, Oxfam, Jacques Diouf of FAO, Kofi Annan (leader of the UN), the Wall Street Journal, and heading standard economists.( de Grassi, Aaron, and Peter Rosset) 8. Elective Paradigms Two noteworthy options to the rural liberalization ideal model have been put forward, both with noteworthy effects. These are: 8.1. Multi functionality According to this concept, ( Grain, 2004)agribusiness is not pretty much creating tradable wares, yet rather has different capacities in the public eye. It is additionally about saving scenes and securing homestead vocations and country conventions, and it is about nourishment security, and in this manner merits uncommon attention in exchange assertions, as per the defenders of this concept.( Green, Duncan. 2003) Multi functionality was initially championed by the EU, to some extent as an approach to support keeping up endowments for European ranchers. The EU looked for a partnership with the Third World countries on this idea, yet the U’s furthermore Cairns Group (a coalition of real agro exporting nations) effectively contended that the EU was liable of guarding its own particular ranchers while sponsoring fares that undercut agriculturists somewhere else, consequently blocking backing for this idea from Southern countries. 8.2. Sustenance Sovereignty The idea has picked up huge prevalence and reverberate in common society divisions of countries both North and South, and has been created into a comprehensive and inside intelligible option framework. (Hayenga, M. and R. Wisner, 2000) Like the idea of multi functionality, it is focused around the extraordinary nature of horticulture (as contrasted with industry, for instance). Sustenance Sovereignty advocates contend that nourishment and cultivating are about more than exchange, and that generation for neighborhood and national markets is more imperative than generation for fare from the points of view of: wide based whats more comprehensive nearby and national financial advancement, and for tending to destitution and appetite, safeguarding country life, economies and situations, and overseeing common assets in a manageable manner. They contend that each nation and individuals must have the right and the capacity to characterize their own nourishment, cultivating, and farming approa ches that they have to have the right to secure residential markets, and to have open segment plan for agribusiness that may incorporate sponsorships which dont prompt more prominent generation, fares, dumping and harm to different nations. 9. Arrangement Alternatives for a Different Agriculture Provides each one of us with sufficient, moderate, sound, heavenly and socially fitting nourishment. Offers provincial people groups in each of our nations the opportunity for an existence with poise, in which they gain a living pay for their work and have the opportunity to stay in provincial regions on the off chance that they favor not to relocate to urban areas. Contributes to expansive based, comprehensive financial improvement at the nearby, territorial furthermore national level. Provincial people groups are more being constrained by monetary need to surrender the area also look for their fortune in peri-urban slums and shanty towns, or join the worldwide transient stream. Rustic economies are in a condition of monetary breakdown, from Iowa to Africa, and horticulture helps ever less to neighborhood, local and national monetary improvement. Provincial situations are by and large quickly debased, soils compacted, dissolved and harmed with pesticides, and stripped of biodiversity 10. Business sector Access and Protection: Stop Dumping At the point when poorer nations are obliged to give more outside access to their residential markets than wealthier nations accommodate them, most eyewitnesses consider the framework unequal furthermore uncalled for. When they open their business sectors they get to be defenseless to dumping. Most performing artists appear to concur, at any rate logically, that closure dumping ought to be an objective of universal transactions in agriculture. First, we have to dispense with obvious and concealed fare endowments as fast as could reasonably be expected, despite the fact that that is not as simple as it sounds. In principle this is settled upon even by governments in the WTO, while in practice there are horde ways these endowments are masked and hidden. Second, in light of the fact that full consistence is farfetched, all nations must be allowed a wide scope of choices to ensure themselves from dumping. For instance, all nations ought to be permitted to force countervailing obligations or take other defensive measures if agrarian fares from different nations are consistently dumped at short of what expense of generation costs. 11. Supply Management: Regulate Overproduction Ceaseless worldwide over-creation is a commonly fortifying, descending winding for the worlds agriculturists, as they battle to create more to make up for lower and lower costs, matched against the ever higher generation expenses of the mechanical cultivating model. A generally little number of agro export forces, headed by the U’s also EU, are in charge of the greater part of the over-production. The first is to reestablish enhanced creation restricting approaches for key harvests in the US and the EU. The main demonstrated approaches to diminish creation in the North are generation shares and taking land out of creation, while reinstituting open administration of surpluses—for people in general great and costs. There must be some kind of instrument which keeps agribusiness from seizing powerful, regardless of the fact that aberrant, control of the surpluses, and which includes both government and family cultivate delegates in arranging and choice 12. Potential Stumbling Blocks As Tim Wise has said (Nadal, Alejandro, 2004) these measures face numerous deterrents, most prominently the deliberate resistance of the compelling companies and their legislature associates that right now profit most from the worldwide exchanging framework in farming. Yet these recommendations offer a number of advantages that make them at any rate as conceivable as the thought that we could truly wipe out Northern homestead appropriations. As a matter of first importance, these option recommendations make characteristic associates of rancher and laborer bunches as far and wide as possible, North and South, East and West, as has been sufficiently exhibited by Through Compazine. They additionally lay the introductory foundation for more extensive coalitions and unions inside national and worldwide common society. They could give a shared opinion to numerous Third World and G-10 administrations, were it conceivable to wean them from agribusiness and agro export impacts. They encroach less on national sway, permitting nations to pick the measures they lean toward for the nourishment and cultivating frameworks they need, the length of such approaches dont prompt fare dumping, and they could be a great deal less expensive regarding citizen dollars used on ranch appropriations, with much better conclusions for the greater part of society. 13. 2003—the WTO Cancun Ministerial Yet the Cancun WTO Ministerial broken down much the same as Seattle, again faltering over farming and again checked by enormous road challenges and the immolation toward oneself at the blockades of Korean ranch pioneer Mr. Lee Kyung-Hae. (Patel, Raj, and Sanaz Memarsadeghi, 2003). Cancun likewise denoted the rise of new Southern nation arranging alliances, most broadly the G-20 gathering of nations with extensive agro export potential, and the G-33 and G-90 alliances of less capable Underdeveloped countries 14. WTO Agricultural Negotiations in Geneva Brussels Washington, July 22, 2004. The current drive to achieve concurrence on farming issues at the World Trade Organization (WTO) ought to be brought to an end. The WTO General Council is gathering in Geneva, beginning July 27th, to talk about a skeleton on farming that is totally unsuitable. We propose another EU farming arrangement, another US Farm Bill, and new global exchange controls, all focused around nourishment power and manageable family cultivating. The European Union and the United States must put an end to the cheat they have been forcing on other WTO parts since the Uruguay Round of the GATT in 1994. Propping up the US and EU farming frameworks with gigantic measures of immediate installments re-ordered as green box or blue box installments fizzles wretchedly in covering the guile of the EU, US and the multinational agribusiness partnerships that advantage from purchasing low-estimated things. The cases by these companies that shoddy products advantage shoppers is m isrepresented by their steadily expanding net revenues, the demolition of neighborhood nourishment frameworks, and becoming populaces of undernourished residence. References: A, Q. (2003).EU farm reform. BBC: British Broadcasting Service. Elizabeth, B. (2004).â€Å"WTO rules against US on cotton subsidies. The New York Times. Nicola, B. (2004).G20: Their power is not ours. Focus on the Global South. Focus Web. NFFC, C. (2004).WTO Agricultural Negotiations in Geneva A joint statement by the European Farmers Coordination (CPE) and the National Family Farm Coalition: USA (NFFC. Grassi, d. and Rosset, p. (2014).Forthcoming. A New Green Revolution for Africa? Myths and Realities of Agriculture, Technology and Development. Oakland: Food First Books. The disease of the day: Acute treatyitis. The Myths and Consequences of free trade agreements with the US. GRAIN,. (2004). us. Duncan. G. (2003). The Cancun WTO ministerial meeting: A view from the sidelines. Trade Hot Topics Commonwealth. M, H. and Wisner, R. (2000). Cargills Acquisition of Continental Grains Grain Merchandising Business.Review of Agricultural Economics, 1(22), pp.252/266. Alejandro, N. (2004).Ser vago en la OMC. La Jornada. Mwxico. Memarsadeghi, S. (2003).Agricultural restructuring and concentration in the United States: Who wins? Who loses? Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First), Policy Brief No. 6..

The Biography of Bob Marley Essay example -- Bob Marley Music Biograph

"I love the development of our music, that's what I really dig about the whole thing. How we've tried to develop, y'know? It grows. That's why every day people come forward with new songs. Music goes on forever." --Bob Marley, August 1979 We remember the brilliant and evocative music Bob Marley gave the world; music that stretches back over nearly two decades and still remains timeless and universal. Marley has been called "the first Third World superstar," "Rasta Prophet," "visionary," and" "revolutionary artist." These accolades were not mere hyperbole. Marley was one of the most charismatic and challenging performers of our time. Bob Marley's career stretched back over twenty years. During that time Marley's growing style encompassed every aspect in the rise of Jamaican music, from ska to contemporary reggae. That growth was well reflected in the maturity of the Wailers' music. Bob's first recording attempts came at the beginning of the Sixties. His first two tunes, cut as a solo artist, meant nothing in commercial terms and it wasn't until 1964, as a founding member of a group called the Wailing Wailers, that Bob first hit the Jamaican charts. The record was "Simmer Down," and over the next few years the Wailing Wailers -- Bob, Peter Mclntosh and Bunny Livingston, the nucleus of the group -- put out some 30 sides that properly established them as one of the hottest groups in Jamaica. Mclntosh later shortened his surname to Tosh while Livingston is now called Bunny Wailer. Despite their popularity, the economics of keeping the group together proved too much and the two other members, Junior Braithwaite and Beverley Kelso, left the group. At the same time Bob joined his mother in the United States. This marked the en... ...der for the following winter. At the end of the European tour, Bob Marley & The Wailers went to America. Bob played two shows at Madison Square Garden but, immediately afterwards he was seriously ill. Cancer was diagnosed. Marley fought the disease for eight months. The battle, however, proved to be too much. He died in a Miami Hospital on May 11,1981. A month before the end Bob was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit, the nations' third highest honor, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the country's culture. On Thursday, May 23,1981, the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley was given an official funeral by the people of Jamaica. Following the funeral -- attended by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition -- Bob's body was taken to his birthplace where it now rests in a mausoleum. Bob Marley was 36 years old. His legend lives on.

The Lesson and Mid-term Break Essay -- English Literature

Introduction to The Lesson and Mid-term Break "The Lesson" tells the story of a 10 year old boy who has lost his father in the duration of school time. It goes on the say he's trapped and although he feels grief for the death of his father he realises that he can use the death to "bind the bullies' fist". "Mid-Term Break" is about the loss of a brother. It goes on to say that life goes on even though he has lost his brother and he witnesses things he does not normally experience (his father crying). "Mid-Term Break" Meaning The meaning of "Mid-Term Break" is to tell the story of an accident involving a young child and a vehicle. He tries to explain how life goes on and the death of the boy's brother doesn't mean that life stops. It goes on to show that because his brother has died certain things happen that he doesn't usually see "I met my father crying" and " Old men standing up to shake my hand". It ends with the powerful and chilling line "a four foot box, a foot for every year" This shows that the boy was very young and had a small coffin because he was only 4 years of age. Structure The poems structure is very neat and very tidy. He chooses to write in three line stanzas because this allows the poem to flow easily and allows the stanza below it the link in with its predecessor. By also having three line stanzas helps the last line have more of a "punch" feeling because it breaks the mould. Heaney avoids using rhyme in this piece because we usually associate rhyme with happiness and glee. Because of this reason Heaney purposely makes this poem sad and hopeless. Analysing The mood changes throughout the poem. At the start the mood is sombre, sad and mysterious but when it reache... ...death. "Pride, like a goldfish, flashed a sudden fin": we can imagine the goldfish swimming in their bowl, perhaps set in the sunshine on a windowsill. The sun catches a goldfish at a certain angle, and the gold of its scales suddenly shines brightly. The speaker, caught in the sunshine of all this attention and sympathy, suddenly feels pride shining in him. At no point in this poem does the speaker express sadness at the loss of his father. However, he is aware that he should feel something, and his shame at the lack of feeling is in conflict with his relief and his pride. What is uppermost in the speaker's mind is the confined little world of the school (rather like the "shining prison" of the goldfish bowl). His life is centred on school, the bullying, his other school-mates. I think the bitter lesson he learns is about his own self-centredness.

Essay --

In this article, Christopher G. Petr presents results of surveys conducted to assess how foster children perceive independent living services put in place to help them adjust as they reach adulthood. Petr makes the point that while most current foster children were optimistic about their futures and believed that these programs were useful in getting them ready to adjust to life after they are age-out from foster care, some of the out of custody youths felt that they had not received adequate services. Among the arguments Petr uses to support this point are the two interviews with subjects "A" and "C". Petr reports that their scenarios are at the opposite ends of a spectrum he heard from the 27 people interviewed. He presents lots of anecdotal evidence from the interviews to support these arguments, including that A was using services like a tuition waiver and living subsidy to help her get a college degree and expressed appreciation for this help. Subject C, on the other hand, had no job and was not continuing his schooling and said he did not know he could get a tuition waiver or...

Identification of Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of Unknown Bacteria Essay

Obesity is a word that everyone is currently familiar with. The media and health professionals have been working tirelessly to make the general public aware of its prevalence and detriments to society. With the staggering statistics of 32.2% prevalence in adults and a range of 13.9% to 18.9% prevalence in children and adolescents, these outstanding numbers stand out for themselves. (1) Increasing rates of obesity are associated with higher risk factors for other diseases such as; Type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, colon cancer, diverticulitis, cancer of the endometrium, and breast cancer. (2) Knowing how to combat obesity will lead to decreased complications of the condition as well as a lower risk factor for other diseases. In light of these significant numbers, our group chose to explore the relationship of dietary fiber to aid in the prevention and treatment of obesity, therefore also reducing the incidence other diseases. Our focus was on making a hot meal with a simple modification to increase the dietary fiber available. The original recipe is a white rice pilaf with the adjustment being made with a substitution of brown rice. This change will boost the fiber intake from 0.8g per serving to 2.6g per serving. The represents a substantial jump in accessibility to a vital part of our diet. We expect favorable results in the acceptance of our modification. The texture is a bit hardier, cooking time is longer, and cost is slightly higher, but we believe the benefits outweigh these variables. The RDA recommends between 25g-30g a day, but the average American receives only 12g-13g per day.(3) With this easy alteration, we hope to increase these low numbers that the average American receives up to the reco mmended levels. Purpose The purpose of our research study is to substitute brown rice for white rice in a pilaf. This pilaf can be eaten for lunch or dinner as a hot side dish or main dish. It is intended to introduce a serving of a whole grain in the diet and with it bring an increase dietary fiber. Literature Review Introduction The frequent occurrence of this disease, as mentioned above, has produced many scientific research studies concentrating on remedying and reversing the trend. Finding and interpreting the results was uncomplicated. I used the online databases; Google Scholar, Medline, and Cinhal to gather my data. My keywords included obesity and dietary fiber. I assembled strong studies that encompassed sample sizes ranging from 11-74,091 participants, with timelines up to twelve years, and accommodating populations in the United States, Spain, Finland, Brazil, Italy, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, Japan, Serbia, Belgrade, and The Netherlands. These studies centered on three different aspects of the relationship between dietary fiber and weight. These are expanded upon below. A synopsis of the reviewed studies can be found in Appendix 1. Correlations of the Development of Obesity Seven out of the ten studies compared the connection between dietary fiber intake and the development or current status of obesity. (2, 4-9) All studies included self reported questionnaires to collect sociodemographic, health history, physical activity, anthropometric, bowel movements, and dietary data. The most common dietary form used was the Food Frequency Questionnaire, with six complying. (2, 4-5, 7-9) The last study utilized twenty-four hour recalls. (6) Other measurements included height, weight, and subscapular skinfold thickness. The entire body of findings revealed that higher fiber intake was inversely related to long term weight gain and increased body fat. Reporting measures were diverse but included the same positive trend. Higher fiber intake equated to an average weight of 1.52kg less, a 48-49% lower risk of weight gain, and a BMI that was 1.5 less when compared to low fiber intake. Some studies investigated other variables in addition to increasing fiber. One study addressed physical activity in addition to increased fiber as a therapy. (5) This study along with another explored the incorporation of a low fat diet along with the high fiber diet. In both, dietary fat was not directly associated with reduction of body fat or obesity but showed a compounding result when correlated with higher fiber. A lower BMI difference of 2.75 was established on a low fat and high fiber diet. (6) Development of Diseases related to Obesity Two studies were taken on to look into the increased use of fiber to decrease the risk of obesity leading to Type 2 diabetes. (10, 11) In a large cohort with a sample size just under 36,000, self reported dietary and weight figures were collected. (10) After six years of follow up, the statistics were analyzed and the results showed a 22% lower risk of the development of diabetes from the highest quintile of dietary fiber intake. These optimistic results were in consensus with the other study. This study had more stringent controls and divided participants into two groups. (11) One received standard care and the other received intensive exercise and dietary counseling. Oral glucose tolerance tests and body composition measurements were calculated. After a four year follow up, the high fiber group gained 75% less than their low fiber counterparts, 0.7kg gain versus 3.1kg gain, respectively. Treatment of Obesity The last study out of the ten engaged the most scientific disciplines. (12) The sample was already obese. They participated in controlled feeding in a metabolic kitchen. The cross over design allowed for six weeks on either a low or high fiber diet with a six week washout period in between them. Daily logs were kept and an OGTT and Euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp was used every two weeks for measuring results. At the conclusion, fasting insulin was 10% lower, the AUC was lowered, and the rate of glucose infusion was higher after the higher fiber diet. Limitations All of the studies employed self reporting figures in some form, whether the basis of all of their information or for at least some part. This may lead to underreporting, overreporting, or misinterpretation. The definition of a whole-grain or high fiber food varied among studies. Recipe and ingredient databases or non-comprehensive food frequency questionnaires may aid in inaccurate recordings of intake. Although the study utilizing the metabolic kitchen was the best scientific representation among the studies it is worth mentioning that it was sponsored and funded by the General Mills Corporation. This could lead to a possible conflict of interest and hence a limitation to the studies findings. Conclusion The complete compilation of studies supports the purpose of our recipe modification. Each emphasized the importance of replacing low fiber foods with fiber rich foods to help prevent or reduce weight gain. The significant correlation between fiber and obesity has been established in this review. The protective role of fiber, along with physical activity and dietary fat, should be included in advice and management therapies tailored to this condition and other related to it. Materials and Methods For our subjective evaluation we designed three separate score cards; demographic, evaluation, and preference. Samples of the score cards can be found in Appendix 2. Sociodemographic For the demographic background we included questions regarding age range, household income range, ethnicity, and educations. We also included six questions probing background information on exposure and open-mindedness of our products.